Living with Mom May Help Curb Risky Sex

Teenage African-American girls who live with their mothers and who feel that they have supportive families may be less likely to engage in sexually risky behavior, according to a new study. "Kids need to feel that they have the support of their family," lead author Dr. Richard Crosby of Emory University Rollins School of Public Health said. "And at least among African-American female teens, there is something protective about residence with their mom." The protective effects are relatively modest, he said, but they can translate into significant public health outcomes when magnified over a population.

To investigate, Crosby and his team studied 522 sexually active African-American females ages 14 to 18. Nearly half (46 percent) of the study participants reported living with their mothers and having high family support. These teens were about half as likely as their peers to report having had any unprotected sex -- with a steady partner or with any partner -- in the past 30 days. They were also about half as likely as their peers to say they had unprotected sex with a non-steady partner in the past 6 months. Furthermore, teens who lived with their mothers were more likely to report that they frequently communicated with their sex partner about sexual risk, such as discussing how to prevent STDs, the report indicates. These adolescents also tended to have more positive attitudes about using condoms -- agreeing, for example, that "condoms create a sense of safety."

In light of the findings, "HIV/STD-prevention programs for female adolescents that include the mothers may promote positive and lasting effects," the authors concluded. Further research is needed, however, to determine if the findings are applicable to African-American male teens or to white youth, Crosby said. The study was published in Preventive Medicine (2001;33:175-178).

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